Jurgen Klopp heartily praised his Liverpool team after they trounced a hapless Leeds United side 6-0, with Marcelo Bielsa admitting he is now harboring relegation concerns following their mind-boggling defeat at Anfield.<\/p>\n
It now looks like the thrashing of Leeds served only as a routine warm-up session for the Reds in gearing up for Sunday\u2019s Carabao Cup final against Chelsea\u00a0as Klopp\u2019s side closes the gap on Premier League leaders Manchester City to just three points while nudging Leeds closer towards relegation.<\/p>\n
Liverpool bagged three goals in either half, with their dynamic duo of Mohamed Salah and Sadio Mane both scoring braces and defenders Virgil van Dijk and Joel Matip also stepping up and getting on the scoresheet.<\/p>\n
\u2018My reaction is disappointment given the result we have obtained,\u2019 a stunned Bielsa said.<\/p>\n
\u2018It has been difficult for us to adapt to the opponents and it has been difficult for us to get the ball to our forwards with clarity.<\/p>\n
\u2018We need to defend better and attack better \u2013 both things. We will fight to defend our position.\u2019<\/p>\n
With the loss, Leeds occupy 15th<\/sup> place in the Premier League and are precariously perched three points above the relegation zone \u2013 with more games played than most of their direct rivals besides having an inferior goal difference to every club with the exception of bottom-placed Norwich City.<\/p>\n Biesla added: \u2018The distances between the two teams we were never able to reduce them.<\/p>\n \u2018In the second half we thought it would be difficult to play an even game but we wanted to prevent or avoid what ended up happening.<\/p>\n \u2018A result like today you can\u2019t explain it with the absences. We are fighting relegation. Of course it worries me, how is it not going to?\u2019<\/p>\n Although undoubtedly an incredible win for Liverpool, Klopp insists that it wasn\u2019t all bubbly and strawberries as his team were made to work for their emphatic win.<\/p>\n He said: \u2018It can happen. If you are really on it and go through all the difficult spells in the game that we did but you think about the start.<\/p>\n \u2018We had three days to prepare it and tell the boys how big the difference is between Leeds and the other teams.<\/p>\n \u2018It can happen, but I didn\u2019t expect it. It is really difficult to defend man marking against us for 90 minutes.<\/p>\n \u2018You cannot defend Mo Salah in all challenges of a game. That is the problem Leeds has and that is why the result is the result.<\/p>\n \u2018We have ten days until we play the next league game and we have two games in-between in completely different competitions, one is a final and the other a last-16 Champions League game and they will be different matches and we have to be ready for them as well.\u2019<\/p>\n Liverpool have now effectively reduced Man City\u2019s lead in the Premier League race to just three points and face Pep Guardiola\u2019s side next weekend.<\/p>\n On the title race, Klopp added: \u2018It is three points until the weekend and then City will probably win and then it will be six points. If we win all our games pretty much there will be a chance for us.<\/p>\n \u2018I think for people outside it is better to have three or six point gap than to have a 20 or 30-point gap so it is more exciting but we have to win a lot of the games against all the difficult opponents and that will be a tricky task. We will give it a try.\u2019<\/p>\n <\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"